Newcastle suffer early injury - A blow to transfer plans and doubt for 2024/25 opener

Newcastle United’s injury woes have started early this season. After another injury-laden campaign, Callum Wilson could be set to miss our opening fixture of 2024/25 against Southampton at St James’ Park.

As reported in The Athletic, manager Eddie Howe has said that Wilson “has just gone to see a back specialist just to have a little procedure on his back.” The 32-year-old missed 19 Premier League games last season, ranging from illness to hamstring, chest and calf injuries.

The last time we saw Wilson was a nine minute cameo against Brentford on the final day of the season, but has not played a full 90 minutes since the 10th of February in a 3-2 away win against Nottingham Forest, where he proceeded to suffer the chest injury which kept him out for eight straight league games.

The situation leaves Alexander Isak as the club’s sole senior striker once again, giving us another key priority to address in this Summer’s transfer window alongside a right-winger and right-sided centre-back.

However, the injury also dampens any chance of us being able to offload Wilson this Summer, with the former Bournemouth striker entering the last year of his deal, and being widely tipped to move away from the North East to Saudi Arabia. His latest injury reduces our hopes of finding a buyer and may push down our asking price even further, which could have a knock-on effect if we do go on to replace the striker this summer.

Can Wilson complete the race against time to be fit for the start of the new season, or are we heading towards another year where an already injury-prone Isak is relied upon for 40+ games a year?